


The Life of a Hufflepuff

by mytimeconsumingsidehobby



Series: A Master of Death's Guide to the Multiverse [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Hufflepuff Harry Potter, Master of Death Harry Potter, Pre-First War with Voldemort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-19 10:35:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29624994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mytimeconsumingsidehobby/pseuds/mytimeconsumingsidehobby
Summary: Harry has been traveling the multiverse with Death for some time now, but he needs a vacation. What better place to take a holiday than a familiar looking world?
Series: A Master of Death's Guide to the Multiverse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2176623
Comments: 3
Kudos: 125





	1. Chapter 1

“Who calls a mountain ‘Mt. Doom’ anyway? ‘Yes, let’s go look into the fiery lava of Mt. Doom. Nothing suspicious here.’”

Death maintained that it was good for his little master to try out new universes. It was just that sometimes maybe there were some universes that were better ideas than others…

Maybe it was time for another round of silent arguing and posturing with Odin. His master always seemed to enjoy those universes. Well, all three of them anyways.

“And how did everyone not immediately clue into the fact that _Wormtongue_ was a bad guy? I mean, come on. It’s almost as bad as Wormtail. If you are calling a guy Wormtongue _obviously there is something going on there_.”

Death listened with half an ear in case his master said anything he hadn’t already heard a dozen times before. It was unlikely.

“You know what I need? A vacation. Something familiar and relaxing. How about a lifetime as a Hufflepuff? I could do with one of those right about now.”

That was new. And also entirely unwelcome. He had spent the last sixteen of his master’s lives trying to keep him away from that horrid little set of universes that he had first found him in. And he wanted to go _back_?

“And tall. I need to be tall again.”

“Well you were rather tall for a hobbit,” Death offered.

His master’s glare did nothing to faze him, seeing as it was one of annoyance and not of anger.

“Not helping,” his master said. “Now, let’s see. Hufflepuff, at least six foot, get rid of all the problem wizards right away… I think that sounds like a lovely thirty fourth life, don’t you?”

Death did not think that sounded lovely but knew it was an entirely rhetorical question. He spent a moment or a small eternity going through possible ways to get out of another round of Hogwarts but came up completely empty. He was fairly confident in stating that nothing was going to deter his master now; not with that look in his eyes in any case.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

He always hated this part. The lights were always too bright, everything was too loud, and the body of a newborn baby was practically useless. At least there were always lovely snuggles for the next several months. And Harry-the-future-Hufflepuff was in no way going to discourage those. Not in this lifetime.

“Oh Alfred, just look at those beautiful blue eyes.”

A man who was apparently called Alfred and, more importantly, NOT called James, chuckled and replied, “they may not stay that way forever, my dear.”

The woman who did not sound like Lily, but did give admittedly good snuggles, tsked. “I know that, but they are beautiful just the same.”

The Alfred man chuckled again. “He must take after his mother,” he said in a tone filled with warmth.

Something was off about this. Not that these people didn’t seem like entirely lovely people who would likely make decent parents, but he was supposed to be in a version of his original world and these people were definitely not James and Lily.

And he couldn’t exactly summon Death at the moment. Knowing Death he wouldn’t bother to make himself not known right away, and even if he didn’t know these people they seemed like absolutely lovely folks and he would hate to cause the woman who just birthed him a heart attack.

He could wait.

Then a healer, who was most definitely a healer, wearing very familiar looking robes, came in the room, addressed the nice people who were apparently his parents now as “Lord and Lady Hufflepuff,” and Harry’s mind shorted out for a second.

Death had better find a replacement because he was about to be murdered.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

It was 1954. It was bloody 1954 and James and Lily hadn’t even been born yet. As far as he knew Lily’s parents weren’t even _married_ yet. Oh, and his name was Harold. Harold Hufflepuff. Because wizards love their alliterative names.

Unfortunately his powers as Master of Death did not extend to the ability to murder Death, whose flimsy excuse of “but you said you wanted to be a Hufflepuff” Harry did not find amusing in the least.

On the bright side, Alfred and Adelaide, also known as Lord and Lady Hufflepuff, were absolutely lovely people and perhaps the nicest set of parents he had had since branching out, at least in terms of sheer kindness. They truly lived up to every good stereotype of their name.

And since Death couldn’t actually be killed, Harry, (because at least he could go by that familiar name), prepared to spent his early childhood finding new and creative ways to torment Death.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Harry was all of four years old when he discovered that being the sole heir of the only founders line to have a confirmed heir, (because Riddle didn’t count at this point), meant lots and lots and _lots_ of brutally demanding, yet unavoidable, undertakings known with such outward innocence as “social events.”

And really, he should have known better. Behave absolutely perfectly as a four year old _one time_ and then people (including but not limited to your parents) begin to have such unfortunate things as “expectations.”

His parents never came out and said it, of course. They were far too nice to do something like that. But it only took a few of those torture sessions with Harry on better behavior than most of the adults present for everyone to sort of assume he was a perfect child who could be brought to absolutely anything without it turning into a disaster.

At least he was the only four year old in the whole of wizarding Britain that that could be said of, so he wasn’t required to spend much time with actual toddlers.

He very well may have died from overexposure if he had been.

Still, everything that fell into the category of “social events” soon fell into the category of “reasons Death is going to eventually die” as well.

There had to be some way.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Harry had learned to hold a grudge for an impressively long time, and after 33 full lifetimes, some of which were a few centuries long or more, seven years was _nothing_ when it came to staying angry and annoyed at Death.

Death had tried to appease him by helping to ensure that he got to see both James _and_ Lily as babies. That hadn’t worked as well as Death had no doubt been hoping (the cuteness of the infants formerly known in other worlds as the parents of Harry James Potter notwithstanding), and so Death had somehow managed to arrange for Harry to spend time with a very small Sirius Black.

Harry had _almost_ softened up on Death, but then the entire Black family, led by an enthusiastic Arcturus Black, had decided that Harold Hufflepuff was an acceptable person to associate with, and he found himself invited over on far too frequent a basis, nudged kindly but firmly out the door by two parents who worried about things like “friends” and “socialization.”

To Harry’s dismay the Lion ears and tail Bellatrix sprouted after one occasion of her claiming Harry was too little and ignorant for her to bother playing with did nothing to curb the enthusiasm displayed by the rest of the Black family. Instead, if anything, his little moment of annoyance and wandless magic made them even _more_ interested in claiming Harold Hufflepuff as a close friend and future ally. Bloody Slytherins.

He saw Druella Black eying him and Andromeda though and made sure to subtly put a very quick stop to that idea. Normally he’d feel a little bad about using compulsions so freely, but in this case it was the Blacks, and Teddy’s _grandmother_ , who was also currently seven, as in a _real_ seven year old, and there was no way that was ever going to happen.

The time spent with the various member of the Black family did lead to one thing though, and that was the resigned acceptance of the fact that he would need to prevent the first rise of Voldemort from ever taking place.

Better get started on that.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“It’s not like your people saving thing is _new_. You can’t honestly expect me to believe you’re all that surprised at this point.”

Harry sighed. “This was supposed to be my vacation, you know.”

“And Adelaide and Alfred seem to be providing you with a perfectly happy childhood. So what if you dabble in preventing the rise of a dark lord and save Bellatrix Lestrange from going insane while you’re at it. You wouldn’t want to be _bored_ now, would you.”

“You’re just trying to get out of doing the work.”

“I could just go get rid of him now,” Death offered.

Harry thought about it for a moment, but sighed. “I’ve spent too long as a Hufflepuff.”

“You’re seven.”

Harry ignored him. “I think maybe we ought to give him a chance,” he continued. “Just in case, you know? I mean what has he really done yet?”

“He’s murdered at least a dozen people.”

“Well nobody is perfect.”

Death shot him a very unimpressed look.

“Okay, fine. He’s not exactly the symbol of love and peace in the world, but there is still the possibility he could turn out all right, isn’t there? I mean it’s not like he’s gone full dark lord on us yet.”

“So you’re going to wait until he _does_ return to Britain and starts murdering again to deal with him? And here I thought you weren’t planning on replacing Dumbledore.”

Harry scowled. “That’s low. And no, I was thinking more along the lines of distracting him and seeing if he might still choose another path to take.”

“Now that I can do,” Death said.

Just as Death was about to make his exit, Harry called out to him. “Oh and Death? Make sure be back the first of September, 1965.”

Death came to an abrupt halt and turned around, giving his best glare. It was one that managed to frighten entire worlds but his master was unfortunately immune. It was rather vexing.

Instead Harry just smiled his best trust-me-I’m-a-Hufflepuff smile in return. “You wouldn’t want me to go all alone into Hufflepuff at Hogwarts, now, would you?”

“You need me to rescue you from all those horrid adolescents?” Death asked sarcastically.

Harry just smiled a smile that promised absolutely nothing good for Death. Or anyone else for that matter, but Death didn’t really care about them quite so much. They weren’t his problem yet.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Harry sat on the Hogwarts train for the two hundred and thirtieth time. There had been a few times he had missed it, after all.

“Hello, do you mind if I sit here?” a small voice called out.

Harry glanced up and promptly forgot the English language. Standing in front of him was a very nervous looking Lucius Malfoy, for there was no one else that could possibly be. And yet, he looked so nervous and _tiny_ and very much not like any other version of the man Harry had ever known.

Finally after an incredibly awkward pause he regained the power of speech. “Sure, Malfoy, have a seat.”

The Malfoy in question looked taken aback. Harry was not at all sure why. Had he expected Harry to say no? Well, after that awkward pause, perhaps…

“You know my name?”

Harry blinked. Oh, that might explain it. “Well, you are Lucius Malfoy, right?”

The boy nodded.

“I’m Harry.”

Lucius stood there.

“You can sit down, you know,” Harry said, gesturing the seat across from him.

Baby not-a-death-eater-Malfoy took a seat.

“It’s nice to meet you, Harry,” Lucius said softly after a minute. “Er, what was you last name?”

“Oh, sorry. Hufflepuff. I’m Harry Hufflepuff.”

The other boy’s eyes went wide. “Are you really?”

This was all strangely and bizarrely reminiscent of a train ride many, many lifetimes ago, except replace a certain red head that wouldn’t be born for a long while with a blond who was the future father of one of loudest, most annoying eleven year olds Harry had ever encountered.

Harry nodded, but was saved from having to make a verbal reply by the arrival of Death, who at the moment had somehow managed to look like a very unassuming, if tall, eleven year old.

Harry was going to have an incredibly impressive growth spurt this year if he had absolutely anything to say about it, which he would.

“Oi, Harry, can we get some of those little frogs again? I need to assert my dominance over the sixth and seventh years.”

Lucius looked absolutely gobsmacked, though when Harry said as much Lucius looked at him with a look of absolute confusion. Right. Wrong decade perhaps. Harry sighed, resigning himself to his fate.

“Lucius, this is Aidan Mot. Aidan, this is Lucius Malfoy.”

Death certainly was aware of Lucius’s presence in the compartment, and Harry considered whether he should bother asking what he was doing later or not.

“Nice to meet you, Malfoy,” Death said. “So, what house do you think you will be in?”

Lucius stared at the Irish sounding boy for a moment before responding. “I’m supposed to go to Slytherin.”

His phrasing was not lost on either Harry or Death, but neither commented.

“Well I supposed we’ll be together, then. It’ll be nice having someone I know around, seeing as Harry won’t be there.”

“He won’t?” Lucius asked.

Death, or Aidan as Harry thought he probably ought to consider him for the time being, laughed, but not in a way that indicated he thought poorly of Lucius’s question at all. Harry wondered what he was playing at, as well as why he felt protective of Lucius Malfoy so suddenly.

“His name is literally Hufflepuff,” Aidan said with a grin. “I think if he were to go anywhere else it’d be an affront to his ancestors or something.”

Harry rolled his eyes snd stuck his tongue out childishly at Death. If Death was going to act like a child, then so was he. “Mum said she didn’t care where I went and Dad said he thought I would also make an excellent Ravenclaw.”

Now it was Aidan’s turn to roll his eyes. “Your parents are the nicest people I think anyone has ever met. Of course they wouldn’t care. I’m talking about all your dead ancestors who would find a way to come back and haunt you or something.”

Lucius watched the exchange in fascination, clearly (and thankfully) not understanding the underlying messages being conveyed. Harry certainly wasn’t going to fill him in on the fact that summoning his dead ancestors was something both he and Aidan could do with ease. The poor boy was already nervous. No need to subject him to that level of trauma.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Harry watched, first from the middle of the hall and then from his seat at the Hufflepuff table, as several familiar, and many more unfamiliar, names were called out. One by one the children went up to the hat, eventually joining their fellow students at the table of whichever house the sorting hat called out. Harry had ensured his own sorting would be rather on the fast side, but he did promise to return to chat with the sorting hat later. He had also named the hat Phil, since apparently it had never been named in this universe.

Phil said he appreciated the gesture and felt he could become fond of his new name, and then he called out Hufflepuff. It was just the right amount of time for people to assume that Harry might possibly have been sorted elsewhere while still ensuring he could be viewed as a shoe-in for Hufflepuff. It was a close balance, but Harry felt he had done a decent job of it.

Lucius, Aidan, Andromeda Black, and Rabastan Lestrange had all gone into Slytherin, as expected. Harry was welcomed to the Hufflepuff table by Edgar Bones, and welcomed Ted Tonks in turn. The Prewett twins went to Gryffindor, and a small Kingsley Shacklebolt, who Harry was rather surprised to see, went into Ravenclaw. Harry could not for the life of him remember what house Kingsley had been in in any other universe, but he was pleased that they would be in the same year. He had always rather liked Kingsley.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

The next morning Harry managed to rouse each of his dorm mates from their sleep in time to get to breakfast. He made a mental calculation of how long it would take for Death to call him a mother hen, but he was in Hufflepuff and so it could fall under the list of reasonable expectations, or, at the very least, the list of not that surprising for the Hufflepuff who’s name was literally Hufflepuff.

And then the entire Slytherin house came in and sat down. Nearly all of them, particularly the older students, looked rather perturbed, though Lucius looked awestruck and Aidan looked smug. Of course he did.

Harry caught Death’s eye and mouthed “What did you do.”

Death looked far too pleased with himself and Harry couldn’t help but wonder if it was a mistake insisting that Death accompany him to Hogwarts this time.

For not actually requiring sustenance to continue his existence, Aidan was sure taking a long time to eat his breakfast. Death didn’t even _like_ breakfast, having managed to come up with complaints against every breakfast food in every culture they had come across in their time together, even if he would happily eat the exact same thing at a later point in the day. Harry knew for a fact Aidan was doing it on purpose.

After what was a completely unnecessary amount of time, Aidan finally put his napkin on the table and stood up, though not before shoving a few extra things on Lucius’s plate, Harry noticed with bemusement. He then made his way casually to the Hufflepuff table, seemingly oblivious to the stares of almost the entire Slytherin House. He wasn’t, of course, unaware, but he did a good job of acting like it.

“Good morning, Harry,” Aidan said cheerfully.

“What did you do?” Harry demanded.

Aidan waved him off. “Just setting things up for Lucius. It seems he could use the practice.”

Harry couldn’t very well demand the specifics right now, especially since they seemed to have garnered the attention of the rest of the hall. Sure, most had the decency to at least _try_ to look like they weren’t paying close attention to the two first year students, but as the Slytherins, Ravenclaws, and the entirety of the head table seemed disinclined to try too hard, most Hufflepuffs weren’t known for their ability to lie or to act, and Gryffindors were rarely accused of being subtle, it had an extraordinarily limited effect.

And so Harry settled on vaguely warning.

“Aidan,” he said, warningly. It was a very solid plan.

“Oh don’t look at me like that, Harry. I’m not going to do anything bad.”

“By whose standards, exactly?” Their standards weren’t _necessarily_ always in keeping with those of everyone else. It wouldn’t hurt to clarify.

“What, don’t you trust me?” Aidan asked with a cheeky grin.

“Not particularly, no.”

“Well you’re the one that made me come here.”

Their subsequent bickering was observed by a very interested number of people, namely every other person present in the Great Hall that morning, and by the end of breakfast it was a firmly established fact in everyone’s minds that Harold Hufflepuff, or Harry, to his friends, was very clearly in charge.

Of what, not everyone could say. But he was clearly in charge of something.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

The first full day at Hogwarts being a Thursday, they had their first day of classes.

In his defense, it had been several lifetimes since he had actually been at Hogwarts, or had to participate in the types of classes offered here.

So when he was caught woolgathering by a rather unimpressed McGonagall, proceeded to transfigure the little matchstick into an intricate sword, rather than the needle that had been called for, and finally realized he had forgotten to bring his wand to class, well, he panicked slightly.

“Er, that wasn’t what you asked for, was it,” he said sheepishly, transfiguring the sword back into a matchstick once again.

Although clearly shocked she managed to say that no, it was not, but that she would let it slide this time. She then asked him where his wand was, to which he once again sheepishly replied that he had forgotten it in his trunk that morning.

If nothing else, Harry was impressed at the woman’s ability to remain unflustered in any situation. It took her all of ten seconds to fully compose herself, and then she proceeded to request that he assist the other students with their own transfigurations.

It could have gone worse, he supposed.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“I hope you realize that the headmaster is going to pay close attention to you now.”

Harry shot Aidan a very unimpressed look, which was returned only by a serene smile.

“I could take care of it, you know,” Aidan offered at Harry’s continued silence.

“I rather think you’ve done enough for one day,” Harry muttered.

“You are the one insisting I come.”

“A decision I am finding myself quickly regretting.”

“Oh, don’t be like that.”

“I find myself suddenly missing Mordor.”

Seeing Death stick out his tongue was not something anyone should be unfazed by, Harry mused in the back of his mind, yet here he was. “Why are you like this?” he asked finally.

“Well I’ve never been eleven before,” Aidan replied succinctly.

Harry couldn’t find a suitable counterargument.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“Come in boys, come in.”

Harry supposed he shouldn’t be all that surprised by his being called into the headmaster’s office after only a day. And truly he was even less surprised that Aidan’s presence had been requested as well.

Death in a child’s form was an absolute menace and Harry was regretting so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes, I am planning on writing Harry Potter and the trip to Mordor at some point. Once my braincells have sufficiently recovered from... Well, not entirely sure what, but they need help. And then Mordor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a few rambles that turned into a bit of something after the first chapter.

“No.”

“But _Harold_ , it’s my _wedding_. You have to do what I want.”

“That’s really not how it works, Black.”

“Oh, so I’m Black now?” Bellatrix sputtered in indignation.

“You called me Harold.” Harry felt his reaction was entirely justified.

“But you would look so handsome walking me down the aisle.”

“And your father cannot because…?”

“Well he wouldn’t look as good doing it as you.”

“That’s not really the point.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“Harold, dear, you have a visitor.”

Harry had banished Death to South America for the summer so he had better not be making an appearance now.

“Hi, Harry,” came the shy greeting.

Harry blinked at the sight of Rabastan Lestrange, who was not even close to being on the list of people Harry would have suspected.

“Er, hello, Rab. What’s going on?”

“I’m supposed to ask you to escort Bellatrix on her wedding day,” Rabastan said rather formally.

Harry mentally reminded himself that Rabastan Lestrange was a sweet, shy boy who had so far displayed no homicidal tendencies and was one of Harry’s own better successes when it came to preventing a generation of bigoted pureblood terrorists and was not, in fact, a Death Eater that Harry could get rid of. Also, this probably wasn’t Rab’s fault.

“Who sent you?” Harry asked with a sigh.

“Well Rod said that Bella wants you to escort her, but that you said no, and that if he didn’t make you do it she would tell you that he was being mean to her.”

What were they, twelve?

“And that motivated him because…?”

“Because Rod is terrified of you,” Rabastan said bluntly.

Technically Rodolphus Lestrange was terrified of _Aidan Mot_ , but by this point it was a rather open secret among anyone who had been at Hogwarts over the past six years that the only thing holding Aidan back from those who opposed or displeased him was Harry. And Harry hadn’t exactly intervened their first year when Death got annoyed with a seventh year Rodolphus Lestrange that had gotten a little too aggressive in his stance on muggleborns…

There was probably some leftover resentment or something that had prevented Harry from caring, but that was neither here nor there.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“You are the worst,” came the very articulate insult from one Sirius Black.

Harry sighed. “And why, may I ask, am I the worst?”

“I thought you were _cool_ ,” Sirius practically whined.

 _Talk about foreshadowing_ , Harry thought with a snort.

“But then you had to go be a part of Bella’s wedding and you’re probably going to marry Andi or something and then we’ll be _related_.”

“Is that such a terrible thing?” Harry said, reminding himself to be sure to unequivocally refute any notion that he would ever marry Andromeda Tonks. Black. Whatever.

“ _Yes_ ,” Sirius insisted. “You can’t be cool if you’re related to me.”

“I’m afraid I don’t quite follow that logic,” Harry said.

“What’s logic?”

“What indeed.”

“But you wouldn’t be cool anymore because no one I’m related to is cool.”

“Is that so.”

“Yes.”

“Well then I suppose we’ll have to stay very firmly unrelated.”

Sirius eyed him warily before nodding sharply. “Good.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“Last year at Hogwarts,” Death said cheerily.

“This life, anyway,” Harry said, because he would probably be stupid enough at some point to let Death exist as a child again.

“It’s not nearly as fun now, of course, but there are still some benefits. Dumbledore’s face each morning I’m still there, for instance.”

“You do realize that he’d stop looking that way if you stopped behaving as you do?”

“Hey, this is my first experience as a child. Don’t ruin it for me.”

“You do realize that you’re legally an adult now, right?”

“And there you go. You just had to do it, didn’t you.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“Hello, Phil. How was the sorting? That was quite the surprise you had there.”

“I just did as I always do.”

“You put Sirius Black in Hufflepuff.”

“Well I do try to take preferences into account, of course.”

“You mean Sirius _asked_ to be put into Hufflepuff?”

“He does seem quite fond of you.”

Harry couldn’t argue with that. As soon as Sirius was certain Harry wasn’t going to do the unpardonable sin of marrying into the Black family, Harry’s status in his eyes had been thoroughly recovered. And maybe he had caught onto the fact that Walburga Black seemed to, er, suffer mysteriously anytime anything started to happen to Sirius or Regulus… Sirius was a bright child, after all. And maybe Harry had told him that if his mother ever hurt him Harry would take care of it. And it was just possible that Death had taken on a rather more adult form at one point, ensuring that the boys wouldn’t be hurt.

In short, Harold Hufflepuff was Sirius and Regulus Black’s hero. And also Narcissa Malfoy’s crush, but Harry was trying to purge that bit of information from his mind.

“Well the upcoming year will be interesting, to be sure,” Harry said finally, not really sure what else to say.

“It always is with you and your friend here.”

“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

If a hat could make a deadpan expression, that’s what Phil would be doing. Harry was sure of it.

“His sorting consisted of him introducing himself as Death and stating that he would be in Slytherin.”

Harry didn’t even blink. “Doesn’t mean we’re friends.”

Apparently hats could sigh exasperatedly.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Aidan Mot entered the Great Hall looking smug and satisfied. The entirety of the student body inched further away (as if that would do anything), though admittedly it did increase Harry’s estimation of their collective self preservation skills.

Or it was just reflexive on everyone’s part at this point. That was actually more likely, to be honest.

“Do I want to know?” Harry asked, as Aidan made himself comfortable across from him at the Gryffindor table Harry had sat at, hoping to escape Sirius’ matchmaking attempts for a moment. Sirius might have believed Harry when he said he had no intention of marrying Andromeda (or Narcissa, for that matter), but Sirius was clearly not taking any chances.

“Doesn’t matter if you want to know,” Aidan said, as if ignorant to the fact that annoying Harry before breakfast was over was an excellent way to get him on baby Death Eater prevention duty again. Death was very often on baby Death Eater prevention duty.

“Ah, here it is,” Aidan said, reaching for the paper that had dropped in front of him and giving the owl a very large piece of bacon all while cooing at it in a way that Death should never coo in general, ever. Harry was almost certain Death did it on purpose at this point.

Harry briefly wondered if he could get away with not finding out whatever was inevitably on the front page of the paper (and causing Death’s smug grin), but a not so quiet murmuring through the Great Hall put a quick stop to those ideas.

 ** _SLYTHERIN LORDSHIP CLAIMED_** , the headline read.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. “This was your great idea?”

“You said to take care of it, so I took care of it.”

“Couldn’t you have taken care of it somewhere else?”

“Well, funny story there, you see, you sort of told me not to do what I do,” Aidan said vaguely, since Harry preferred Death not announce his true identity to a bunch of adolescent witches and wizards. He was trying to _prevent_ mass trauma from occurring, not cause it, thank you very much. “Anyway, when you sent me into exile…”

“Exile would be another reality, not Peru.”

“…we sort of bumped into each other again, and one thing lead to another, and, well, tada!”

“You are a menace.”

“Of you’re own making.”

“I am not claiming responsibility for this.”

It was a testament to the frequentness of their banter that their conversation had not even drawn an audience. Well, not much of one, anyway.

“So how did you two do this?” Fabian asked.

“Where did you find this guy anyway?” Gideon asked not a moment later.

If he had gained nothing else from this life, Harry had at least confirmed that Fred and George Weasley were related to their uncles.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“Harry, I need to confess something.”

Harry liked Ted, he really did. He was one of the first ones to actually call Harry “Harry,” and he had never been quite so starstruck over the Hufflepuff name. Over some other things, sure, but Harry had long since given up trying to prevent _that_. But favored fellow Hufflepuff or not, this was not really the most auspicious start to a conversation.

“I’m dating Andromeda Black.”

Harry blinked, waiting for the part he was supposed to be surprised by. Finally realizing that this was, in fact, the information he was supposed to react to, he made a small “o” with his mouth and nodded.

“I know,” he replied.

Ted looked uncomfortable still.

“Right. Yeah, sorry, should have figured that. But, that’s not a problem?”

“No?”

“Alright, then.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Things had obviously changed in this world from the worlds Harry had previously lived in. Ted and Andromeda did not, in fact, keep their relationship entirely a secret, as they had before. The reaction was mixed, but among Hogwarts students, at least, no one seemed to make a big deal of it. Most of them genuinely didn’t care enough to react, and those who did displayed their reflexive self-preservation skills when both Harry _and_ Aidan sat very protectively around Ted and Andromeda, daring anyone who was stupid enough to say anything to do the stupid thing and say something.

The fact that Harry had just obliterated three howlers addressed to Andromeda and two cursed letters sent to Ted may have played some part in the choice of most to stay away and out of the matter entirely.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Many miles away Bellatrix Lestrange sat, entertaining the newly minted Lord Slytherin, when a certain owl came in, bearing it its grasp a very distinctive sort of letter.

A cool, calm voice came from the howler, informing her that her interference in her sister’s affairs were necessary and unappreciated.

“And Bella,” the voice concluded at the end, “inform your husband of that as well. I would hate for Aidan to get any ideas of needing to defend one of his favorite Slytherins from any nasty little comments.”

Rodolphus, who sat across from Bella, paled visibly at that last part.

Lord Slytherin quirked an eyebrow, and Bella hastily explained Harry’s letter.

“And was that Aidan Mot he referred to, by any chance?”

She was surprised that a wizard of Lord Slytherin’s age would be familiar with a young wizard still at Hogwarts, but she replied in the affirmative. If anything Lord Slytherin’s face grew closer to matching that of her husband’s than it had previously.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“So who did you send a howler to?” Edgar asked.

Over six years and the boy had only strengthened his ability to fish out details from everyone, Harry included. He idly wondered whether Amelia would be the only top auror to come out of that family.

“Just someone who was starting to become a bother.”

“About Ted?”

“Perhaps.”

“So which Black was it?”

He had lived more lifetimes than Edgar had years. He should be better at dodging questions at this point. He’d certainly dodged plenty of Dumbledore’s over the years.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

It was a week before graduation and that was now Harry’s timeline for finding a way to kill Death.

“Oops?”

“Really? That’s all you have to say for yourself?”

“Yes.”

“What were you even doing in Wiltshire?”

“My job.”

“It’s _six years too early_.”

“Not now it’s not.”

“Lucius is _panicking_.”

“He’ll be fine.”

“You killed his father and now he in charge of the entire Malfoy estate.”

“Like I said, he’ll be fine. I’m sure you’ll help him along.”

So yes, Harry was going to kill Death. All he had wanted was a vacation. Was that really too much to ask?

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“So what project are you going to work on after graduation now that you won’t be caring for your little army of Hufflepuffs?”

This is why Harry liked Kingsley. No stupid questions.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

“So what are you going to do now that you don’t have your little army of Hufflepuffs?”

“Your death is imminent.”

“I’m Death. You can’t kill me.”

“I’m sure I can find a way.”

“You weren’t like this when Kingsley asked.”

“We have roughly a hundred and fifty years left in this lifetime and then you are giving me a vacation. A real one, this time.”

“You’re the boss.”


End file.
